Wireless (“Wi-Fi”) networks, which use high-frequency radio waves instead of wires to connect to computer networks such as the Internet, are increasingly gaining in popularity to support a growing number of Wi-Fi capable devices including printers, kitchen appliances, televisions, stereo equipment, video game consoles, and the like. Typically, a Wi-Fi network includes a wireless access point (“WAP”) which has a wireless radio for communicating with one or more client computing devices equipped with a wireless adapter.
Since Wi-Fi networks utilize radio waves for communication, client computing devices must be configured according to various wireless settings in order to communicate with a WAP. These settings include an identification (i.e., SSID) associated with the WAP and a password or key associated with wireless encryption settings required for secure communications with a wireless client computing device. Typically, the required configuration settings are manually entered utilizing software on each client computing device desired to be connected to a wireless network.
Manual wireless configuration methods however, suffer from a number of drawbacks. One drawback is that configuration settings must be entered each time a new device is added to a wireless network requiring a user to have an understanding of and access to the required settings. Thus, users who do not understand the various configuration settings and/or had a network installer or other third-party configure their wireless network, may not have access to the required configuration settings upon connecting a new client computing device to an existing network. Another drawback is that even if a user does have access to the configuration settings, these settings are often written down and thus subject to being misplaced or lost by the user. As a result, a user desiring to add a new client computing device must either retrieve the settings from the WAP using an already connected client device or reset the WAP to an unsecured default state in order to connect additional client computing devices to the wireless network. It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present invention has been made.